>> congressman gregory meeks of new york, good to have you on the show tonight. that's "the ed show." "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts now. good to see you tonight. >> good to see you, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, it's starting to work. since the health care law went into effect two months ago, republicans have been on overdrive rooting for its failure. but after a rocky start, we're seeing huge improvements to the website and an end to the right wing's talking points. 100,000 americans chose insurance plans through the federal exchange in november. nearly four times as many people as signed up the month before. hundreds of thousands more getting coverage through the state-run programs. 91,000 people have signed up for insurance in new york. 98,000 enrolled in washington state.

and nearly 80,000 in california. and 48,000 in kentucky. yes, there are problems with the website. but they're getting fixed. the site now works more than 90% of the time. it can handle 50,000 visitors at once. and 800,000 visits per day. according to the administration. and that's good. because the demand is staggering. just today 375,000 people visited healthcare.gov. these are real people who can finally get coverage. >> this weekend, some positive signs. >> everything went smoothly. >> shawn pete is a virginia-based barber who is eager to get health care for himself and his kids. >> there were no problems. >> a nursing student who works part-time will have health insurance for the first time in six years. >> it's a burden that has been

lifted. because you don't know what the future holds, but you have to prepare for it. >> 48,000 residents have already enrolled in medicaid including carter tate who lost his private insurance last year. >> just really a lot of stress for me. so i'm thankful for this. >> it's great news, but what are we hearing from the republicans? more complaints. texas senator john cornyn tweeted, so obama care's fixed now that the website has been improved? not on your life. alabama's martha roby says, quote, the real problem with obama care can't be fixed with a tech surge. what we are seeing now is just the beginning. and from new hampshire senator kelly ayotte, obama care is still a mess. it's not a mess to people who can finally afford insurance,

who are getting free preventive care, who aren't being discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions. but they don't think about that. they focus on attacking the president. >> i don't know how you fix the many fundamental problems of this program. >> this thing is going to be an unmitigated political disaster for the president. >> this really feeds into the president's competence. that's really the question now that people have. is the president competent to do his job? >> here's the question. here's the question people really have. just how desperate is the right. they didn't want this law to work, didn't want it to help people, but it is. so how much longer can they keep up these attacks? it's working. and they're the ones losing. joining me now are congress woman jan schakowsky, democrat of illinois, and salon.com's joan walsh. thank you both for being here. >> thank you, reverend al.

>> congresswoman, your republican colleagues have tried everything to discredit the health care law. will they start getting pushback from constituents who are benefitting from it? >> oh, i think there's no question. the good news stories are starting to roll out. as you said, people who have been denied health care perhaps most of their life are finally getting enrolled. by the way, i enrolled today. it was simple. i have my plan now as a person on the health care exchange. and i had no trouble getting on the website. and so now that the website is getting fixed, the republicans are looking for something else as part of their more than three and a half year campaign against obama care. but the sailing is going to get much rougher for them now that people are actually seeing the benefits. >> now, joan, every now and then, we hear, you know, a republican say they should root for the health care law to fail.

some level of, you know, let's not root for it to fail. so here's georgia congressman jack kingston who's running for the senate. listen. >> a lot of conservatives say just step back and let this thing fall to pieces on its own. but i don't think that's always the responsible thing to do. i think we need to be looking for things that improve health care overall for all of us. and if there was something in obama care, we need to know about it. >> now, kingston said it's not responsible to let this thing fall to pieces. and the right wing blog red state posted, quote, jack kingston has surrendered on obama care. has surrendered. they may kick him out the party. he surrendered because he said everyone should work toward improving health care? i mean, how cynical is this? >> it's very cynical, but that is what he's up against. jack kingston is going to be in trouble with the tea party base who wants to see this fail because they want to see this president fail.

but there really is hope for so many people. i mean, that story last week in the "washington post" about kentucky. you're talking about republicans, poor republicans, getting health care, reverend al. and i think now that we have these positive stories after, let's be honest, six weeks or so of only horror stories, i think that the public opinion is going to turn and it's going to be very hard to demonize this program and take it away from people. >> but congresswoman, they're in a bad spot because they rooted against it, they went ahead with all they had against this, and now it is beginning to work and you're starting to see people tell positive stories, congresswoman. >> you know, i told them to get over it in a committee hearing, and they'd better get over it or pay a political price. >> now, joan, let me come back to you. we mentioned earlier that rick santorum was so desperate he

attacked president obama's competence, but you're writing about something else he said yesterday. listen to this. >> i talked to one insurance company today that a third of their enrollees are over 60 years of age. those are the people signing up. and the folks who can keep their plans because they're lower cost will now. and the folks who are going to get into these exchanges are probably going to be sicker, older, and as a result premiums are even going to go higher. >> what's he really saying? >> first of all, he's again talking about the republican base. the older, white people, many of them whom are moderate income or working class who are struggling. and he's lamenting the fact that finally these 60-something people, 55-year-olds can get health insurance when they couldn't before. now, we're not talking about poor people. by and large they're eligible for medicaid in many places. we're talking about presumably working people, presumably many

of whom vote republican. so you see the mean spiritedness of it that these people who have been suffering. too young for medicare, waiting to get to medicare if they can, they finally have an option. and he's decrying this. i also have to add in kentucky 41% of the people signing up are under 35. so even his facts are cherry picked. it's not true that everywhere it's older people. but for now, you know, it's good news for now that older people are getting help. younger people are going to come in later. they're going to come in at the last minute. they're going to come in at the deadline. but again, just the fact that he chose to highlight just shows how they've got nothing to offer these people. >> you know, congresswoman, republicans at a state level who refuse to expand medicaid are denying insurance to 4.8 million americans. talking about how insensitive they are. and mean spirited. they're actually denying insurance to 4.8 million people

by refusing to expand medicaid. >> there is absolutely no excuse for that, really. depending on where you live, you may not be able to get the health care you need to keep yourselves alive. but i also wanted to comment that today in politico, it's, quote, surprisingly large numbers of young people enrolling in health coverage. so i really do think that they have to look again at those numbers. young people have stayed away from health insurance for the same reason that older people have. they can't afford it. but most young people, if they go onto the website, they're going to find policies that are going to be as low as $50 a month and save themselves from a bike accident that could cause them $7,000 and put them in great debt. and so medicaid for all those who are eligible is important, but also our young people regardless of their income are really going to benefit.

>> no doubt about it. but joan, i want -- because a lot of times people act like we're talking about other than real people. like people only on the beltway in washington. these are real people. and by refusing medicaid expansion, it's closing public hospitals. the law cuts subsidies for hospitals with the thought they get more reimbursements from medicaid patients. bloomberg reports that means, quote, at least five public hospitals have closed this year and many more are going to scale back services. patients in areas with shuttered hospitals must travel as far as 40 miles to get care. patients have to go 40 miles for care, joan, because republican governors refuse to expand medicaid. if republicans were serious about improving health care, would we see this really happen? >> no, we wouldn't.

and we do have some republican governors. i mean, even john kasich has expanded medicaid. i think you'll see more of them do it. i think it's so mean spirited but also you've got hospitals closing that serve a lot of different people. this is an unintended consequence of their cruelty. when you've got one by one republican governors saying maybe we should take this money, i think there's going to be incredible pressure on them. this money is stimlative in their communities. it's crazy these red state governors are choosing to bankrupt the hospitals. >> i'm going to have to leave it there. congresswoman? >> let me just say one thing. 100% of the cost of this expansion coming from the federal government. this is a great deal. >> yes. >> it's good news, and republicans don't want it. that's what's sad about it.

congresswoman jan schakowsky and joan walsh, thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you. coming up, congratulations, speaker boehner. you have the worst congress ever. so what are you going to do now? go on vacation, of course. while the gop's kicking back this holiday season, what happens to the unemployed? or people on food stamps? plus this weekend the rnc declared that racism is over. racism is no more. huh? yeah. doesn't make sense to me either. and the president and the first lady open up about their plans after they leave the white house, and republicans might not be happy. [ tires screech ]

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if you're the worst congress ever and there's a lot of important work to do before the year's over, what do you do? if you're house republicans, you go on vacation. that's next. , did you get the toaster cozy? yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with new fedex one rate, i could fill a box and ship it for one flat rate. so i knit until it was full. you'd be crazy not to. is that nana? [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. i don't miss out... you sat out most of our game yesterday! asthma doesn't affect my job... you were out sick last week. my asthma doesn't bother my family... you coughed all through our date night! i hardly use my rescue inhaler at all. what did you say? how about - every day? coping with asthma isn't controlling it. test your level of control at asthma.com, then talk to your doctor. there may be more you could do for your asthma. the day building a play set

begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ everyone's back to work today after a long holiday weekend. including these guys. speaker boehner and his gop-controlled house. they're back at washington ready to get to work. but don't blink. or you just might miss them. the house gop designed this

legislative calendar, so it's working only eight days this month. they could add two full working weeks to the calendar and still be off for christmas and christmas eve. instead, they're putting up their feet and calling it quits. what is this? a reward for low productivity? congress enacted just 52 laws this november. that's on track to be lowest since world war ii. and the answer is to work even less. come on, gang. there's real work to be done. over the weekend the president and first lady met with activists on a hunger strike for immigration reform. house republicans can get this done. or they could work to prevent 1.3 million people from losing unemployment benefits in january. or how about increasing the minimum wage? the top 1% earned more than 20%

of the nation's income last year. the biggest share in decades. and yet the federal minimum wage is still stuck at $7.25 an hour. it hasn't been raised since 2009. if the minimum wage had had kept pace with the earnings of the top 1% since 1960, it would be over $22 today. it's time to get serious. even if this republican congress won't. joining me now are jared bernstein and krystal ball. thank you both for coming on the show. >> thanks for having us, rev. >> thank you. >> krystal, so much work to do but this dprs is on track to be the least productive ever. >> well, that's exactly right. and i think they're leaving because they don't care to get anything done. they want to keep flogging negative obama care stories and hope that scores them some political points. but the truth of the matter is they could put immigration

reform on the house right now and it would pass. they could do something like raising the minimum wage which is hugely popular out there in the country. and whether they want to address these issues or not, i do think there is a rising wave of support that is going to have to force them to take action. they're not going to do it on their own. on black friday we saw 1500 prote protests around the country at walmart. this week we're e sooing fast food workers protest for a higher wage. i think that is one thing they're not going to be able to ignore for long. >> you raise a good point. but let me go back to minimum wage. jared, a brand new "new york times" poll shows americans favor raising the minimum wage. that include 84% of democrats, 64% of independents, and 57% of republicans. >> right. >> and yet republicans in

congress continue to oppose raising the minimum wage. listen to this. >> i've been dealing with the minimum wage issue for the last 28 years that i've been in elected office. and when you raise the price of employment, guess what happens. you get less of it. >> a minimum wage law as good as it may sound at the outset is not the way to do it. >> i don't think minimum wage doesn't actually accomplish those goals. >> jared, you've written a lot about this. you're the economist. tell us what the minimum wage being raised does and what it does not being raised does. >> well, it's actually a policy that has its intended effect, and that's something we've seen many, many times over the years both across time and across place. as was mentioned, there's lots of states and counties doing this now. so here's a policy with really

zero budgetary costs that does what it's supposed to do at a time when we really need what it's supposed to do. which is to boost the earnings of our lowest wage workers and push back on this inequality problem. i think if speaker boehner were being more accurate, he'd say i'm being essentially funded by opposing minimum wage my whole career. that's really the influential point here. and because the people -- and not just democrats. the people are with the minimum wage. >> and there's no doubt about that. but krystal, what i'm talking about is the economic impact. a recent study concluded raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would boost the economy. we're talking about the effects it would have for everybody. it would increase the wages of 30 million workers, it would create 140,000 jobs in the next few years, and increase economic

output by $32 billion. >> wow. wow. and we talked so much about trickle down, how about a little trickle up? people living paycheck to paycheck they spend that money. they buy goods and services. where then more people need to be employed. i would argue that not only is there no negative impact on the budget, a lot of the folks that are working full-time in fast food, in places like walmart, they are still even though they're working, not able to support themselves and their families. so taxpayers have to shell out the money for s.n.a.p., for welfare for folks to be able to get by even though they are working by and doing everything they can. so by having an artificially low minimum wage, we are essentially as taxpayers providing corporate subsidies. >> you know, jared, when you look at the republicans' economic agenda, they oppose raising the minimum wage. they want to cut $40 billion

from the food stamp program. and they support the sequester cuts to programs like head start and meals on wheels. i mean, maybe i shouldn't be complaining that they don't work more. look at what they do to us when they are working. >> and one thing you mentioned earlier you just left off that list was the expiration of extended unemployment benefits. 1.3 million people off the unemployment ranks. and that has very much the same impact krystal was talking about in terms of putting money in the pockets of people who will spend it. look, it's been extremely clear for a very long time that republicans particularly in the house, they don't do policy. they do politics. and by the way, on your list of things that sure it would be great if they take up minimum wage and immigration, remember they have a budget deal they've got to pay attention to. so just keeping the lights on is a challenge for these folks. the minimum wage has consistently been shown as i said to have its intended effects of increasing the income

of some of our hardest hit workers without disadvantaging them on the job side of the equation. it's a simple effective policy. don't expect to get much from this group on it. >> well, it's going to be a big fight to the end of the year. unemployment benefits and food stamps. it's going to be a fight all the way to the end of this year. jared bernstein, krystal ball, thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> thanks for having us, reverend. >> and be sure to catch krystal on "the cycle" week days at 3:00 p.m. right here on msnbc. ahead, she was sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot through a dispute with her abusive husband. tonight major news in the marissa alexander fight for justice. plus the rnc sends out a tweet declaring that racism is over. and they wonder why the gop has problems with the minority outreach? [ coughs, sneezes ]

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hey, folks. did you hear that a major news story broke yesterday morning? do we have the tape of it? yeah, folks. let's roll it. >> hold on, hold on. we're getting breaking news into the msnbc newsroom. folks, we're getting bits and pieces here. unconfirmed reports at this time into msnbc that racism has ended. yes, that's right. racism is no more. clearly a developing story. what is this, folks? stand by. i'm now getting confirmation that racism has ended. we struggled with this issue for centuries. and this morning at 9:58, it

ended. it came in a tweet from the national republican party. just moments ago they announced that racism has ended in america. now, that is a story for the ages. >> sorry to break it to everyone, racism didn't actually end. but someone should tell the republican party. this weekend they honored the 58th anniversary of rosa parks refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus by tweeting today we remember rosa parks' bold stand and her role in ending racism. now, i doubt that the gop was trying to be offensive, but the tweet received so much attention because of the recent unfortunate history between some on the right and race. this year alone, a tea partier waved a confederate flag at the

white house. a senate candidate addressed a neo-confederate group. and to this day, sitting members of congress are still accusing the president of being born -- >> the consensus is he has produced a birth certificate. the question is is it legitimate. >> if someone asked for my birth certificate, i would take it out and show it. >> all the president has to do is show it. >> but it's not just what they're saying as ugly as that is, it's the policies they're pursuing. including harsh anti-voting laws. this year alone at least 90 bills have been introduced restricting voting access in 33 states across the country. these are reprehensible efforts to stop people from exercising a basic american right. and no tweet can change that fact.

joining me now is congresswoman marsha fudge, democrat from ohio. and the chair of the congressional black caucus. and dana milbank of "the washington post." thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> thank you for having us. >> congresswoman, this tweet was clearly a mistake. but in your view, what is the larger gop problem here? >> if this thing was not so ridiculous, it would really be laughable. so i thought what you said was well done. same thing about people not wanting to fund education, not wanting to continue funding medicare and social security at current levels. people who want to destroy food for poor people by cutting $40 billion from food stamps, these same people actually can say that there is no racism in america?

the same people who made sure it is difficult for people of color and minorities in general to have their vote counted. it is just ridiculous that people would actually make a statement like that and believe that someone would take them seriously. >> you know, dana, when you look at the record, when you look at the fact that their attempt to quote, reach out to minority voters has failed repeatedly this year, look at the fact republicans turned down the offer to speak -- any of them -- at the 50th anniversary of dr. martin luther king's i have a dream speech. and ted cruz praised jesse helms. comparing obama care to slavery. even sarah palin embraced the term shuck and jive. i mean, these kind of outreach attempts are the most backfiring

i've seen in american politics probably in my lifetime. >> it is a bit handed in the way they go about doing this. you see what they might have been trying to do here. one hopes that tomorrow they might send out a tweet ending poverty and then all warfare tomorrow. it doesn't work that way. people are not inclined to give this republican party the benefit of the doubt because of the record of statements and because of the record of policies. the most prominent of which right now is immigration which is being bottled up entirely because of the republican leadership. look, you've got a republican leadership in washington. then you've got the tea party. and that's certainly where the latter is certainly where the racism is bubbling up right now. but you've got a republican majority in power in the house that is refusing still to take on this tea party because they're fightened of that.

so the best you come up with is the ham handed efforts to say we, too, care about inclusion and equality. >> you know, congresswoman, it's not just the tone. it's policy. just last week, you congresswoman fudge, you wrote attorney general holder a letter asking him to review two new proposed bills in ohio. you said with no indication that voter fraud is a widespread problem in ohio, this proposal is a thinly veiled attempt to reduce the number of people able to exercise their right to vote. they are attempts to suppress the voting rights of african-americans and other minorities. >> absolutely, reverend. i think they will stop at nothing to make sure that they make it difficult for people who they don't want to vote to vote. i mean, quite frankly they are out to make sure that democrats, obviously, but minorities, young people, senior citizens, the

disabled. those people who the democratic party has always supported, they are making it more and more difficult for these people to exercise their right to vote. and so they're going to continue in any way they possibly can to either reduce the number of days you can vote early, to make it more difficult to get an absentee ballot, they are going to do whatever it takes. and ohio is one of the states that is doing this in a big way. john husted has continued to do everything he can to make sure people who look like me, vote like me cannot vote. >> you know, dana, it becomes difficult when they're taking their cues from right wing pundits who are the real bosses of the party. listen to this. >> in obama's america, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering, yeah, right on right on right on. >> in a grievance industry have intimidated the e so-called conversation. >> this president i think has exposed himself as a guy over an

over and over again who has a deep seeded hatred for white people. >> bush had shock and awe. we're looking at shuck and jive here. that's what i'm going to name this. the obama operation in syria, operation shuck and jive. because that's what this is. >> one tweet, dana, or a series of tweets can't undo all of that. because these are the guys who are really the heads of the party. >> well, yeah. that's so. and the problem really with the republican party right now is if they look at the demographics where things are going in future elections, they're not going to be a majority party in america for very long at all if they're only catering to white males. so there are two things going on. one is the sort of voter intimidation efforts the congresswoman was talking about. then there's the sort of intimidation of the rosa parks tweet. but it's very difficult when you look at the policy direction and

you hear the voices of the de facto leaders of the party to give them the benefit of the doubt on those things. >> and madam chair lady, it's not just race. the gop is ostracizing other groups too. they won't hold a vote on immigration. they're vowing to run on the abortion issue in 2014. and they're fighting birth control access at the state level. >> certainly it is not strictly race. i mean, anyone who thinks differently, who looks differently, who believes differently, they are under assault by the gop. when you think about the people who need health care, they are not just all people of the same racial background. they're young, they're old, they're sick, they're well. when you look at people who need a better education, when you look at people who are going to be cut off from food stamps, when you look at the immigrants, you look at an america that is very different from the america that they have always known. >> congresswoman marsha fudge

and dana milbank, thanks for your time this evening. >> thank you for having me. >> thanks, reverend. forget birthers. the right has a new conspiracy theory. it involves jeb bush and the vatican. you won't want to miss this one. the right keeps declaring the end of the obama presidency, but he keeps proving them wrong. that's ahead. people don't have to think about where their electricity comes from. they flip the switch-- and the light comes on. it's our job to make sure that it does. using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. generating electricity that's cleaner and reliable, with fewer emissions-- it matters. ♪

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saying, quote, obama closes vatican embassy. a slap in the face to catholic-americans around the country. slap in the face? wow. okay. this must be fueled be i the far right talkers, right? wrong. it really surprised me to see jeb bush hop on board the fringe bandwagon. he tweeted, quote, hopefully is not retribution for organizations opposing obama care. oh, no. they've taken over jeb bush. here are the facts. the united states is not closing its embassy to the vatican. all the u.s. is doing is moving to save money and increase security. it's not some secret plan to insult catholics. and now the gop group that started it all is backing down.

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remember when obama care was going to be the president's waterloo? jim demint said it would destroy him. how did that work out for the

right? from the start no matter what it is, the right and the right wing media has been talking doom and gloom about this presidency. they counted him out and said his presidency was over. after the bp oil spill, they asked should president obama resign over february 13? they compared hurricane sandy to president obama's katrina. and we know that katrina comparison has been popular on the right. and on benghazi, it was going to cost obama his presidency. let's remember, he won the 2012 election by over 5 million votes. but now they're back to that waterloo moment. look. there's no question the president is in a tough spot politically. and no question there have been problems, even he acknowledges it. >> if you remember, i've gone up

and down pretty consistently throughout. the good thing about when you're down is that usually you've got nowhere to go but up. >> he's got nowhere to go but up. i wouldn't count him out. the right has been saying president obama and his health law are dead for weeks. months, years. but guess what. both are still here. today the national journal writes about president obama's resilience. can obama recover? he did already. joining me now is the reporter with that story, national journal political correspondent alex sikes wald and james peterson, professor at lehigh university. thank you for being here. alex, your piece is about the president recovering. tell us what you noticed. >> if i had a dollar for every time somebody said obama or

obama care is doomed, i could pay for the website rebuild myself. you know, at every stage when scott brown got re-elected, everyone was sure obama care was done. when the tea party came, everybody said obama care was done. obama himself, from controversies like the irs to when he criticized the arrest of henry lewis gates, he's been done. and he continued. this should be no surprise to anyone who's paid attention to history. bill clinton emerged from an impeachment scandal with the highest approval rating of his career. he's the president. he has the support -- he won the 2012 election with the support of many americans. and the health care law is here to stay. it's not going away any time soon. >> you know, james, some in the media talk over and over -- i mean, we've been hearing for the last few weeks. it goes all the way back to jim demint's waterloo comment. listen to this. >> one pundit says that the obama care debacle marks the,

quote, end of obama's presidency and the beginning of his lame duck years in the white house. >> this is a lame duck status we're in now. >> when we look back at the end of his presidency, we're going to say this was the tipping point of his relevancy. i don't think he can recover fully. >> i mean, it's over and over and over again, james. >> it is, rev. they think if they say it enough it will become reality. also i like alex's piece a lot today. because i think what it reflects for us especially those of us in the news media, what are the limitations of the news cycle. one of those limitations is whatever is happening in that 24 hours may seem to be like a permanent thing. and i think we have to start to think beyond that. it's clear that the president doesn't seem as lame duck. he's already moving and putting pressure on congress to think about immigration reform. i think the jury is still out on what he can get done in the second term. i just love the cataloging of

all these doomsday naysayers over the course of the last five or six years. and just like the president said in the clip you just played, he's down sometimes, he's up sometimes. what's good for him is he has an opportunity to come back up. the 24 hour news cycle is how he dominates the process. there's serious challenges in that. >> you know, you wrote about the times that they've asked whether or not the president can come back or not and whether he can recover. you wrote it was asked again in january 2010 from orlando to buffalo after republican scott brown won a special election in massachusetts. he did and so did obama care. and again in january 2011 after democrats got shellacked in the tweb midterm. when sean hannity asked in a panel in august 2007 can obama

recover from a sinking dough and other bad economic news, fox news analyst peter johnson jr. replied no, but we need america to recover. so the president wins by 5 million votes and the dow is breaking records. >> yeah. i mean, you know, i used that photo of the famous dewey beats truman newspaper, and i think the sentiment is largely true. you know, it is the 24-hour news cycle here. it is a premium in the arms media wherever there's a controversy small or large in the obama administration to take the strongest position possible. this is obama's katrina, this is obama's iraq. i think it's like the bp oil spill as you mentioned. as soon as it's fixed, as soon as the website gets fixed, i think it will end up in our rearview mirror and we'll move on from it. but i really think that every reporter and pundit who declared the end of the presidency should

come out and should issue a mea culpa and say you know what i got this wrong. that's okay. we all get something wrong. but i think pundit accountability would be good there. >> well, i'm going to have to leave it there. alex and james, thank you both for your time tonight. have a great night. and let me also say the thing that bothers me most in all of this is there is some tremendous needs that we have to deal with in this country. immigration, minimum wage, voting rights. these are the things that they ought to be focusing on rather than this continual litany of over the top announcements of the president's political death. i think they're premature, and i think they waste the country's time. ahead, a mother of three is sentenced to 20 years for a

warning shot. tonight a major development in the marissa alexander case that you will want to hear. [ male announcer ] did you know that if you wear a partial, you're almost twice as likely to lose your supporting teeth? try poligrip for partials. poligrip helps minimize stress which may damage supporting teeth by stabilizing your partial. care for your partial. help protect your natural teeth. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪

we're back with a positive development in the case we've been following out of florida. marissa alexander was serving 20 years in prison for firing a

warning shot. she said her husband who had a history of domestic violence was assaulting her, so she fired a warning shot that hit the ceiling of her house. no one was hurt. >> i believe when he threatened to kill me, that's what he was going to do. that's exactly what he intended to do. and had i not discharged my weapon at that point, i would not be here. this is my life i'm fighting for. this is my life. and it's my life. it's not entertainment. it is my life. >> the mother of three spent the last two years behind bars convicted of domestic violence against her estranged husband. how could that be justice in america? back in september we learned a florida appeals court ordered a new trial. and over the holiday weekend without cameras around, she was let out of prison the night before thanksgiving.

reunited with her family after more than 1,000 days in prison. that is what i call a very happy holiday. her new trial is set to begin in march of next year. we'll continue to follow this story. ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ [ male announcer ] the beautifully practical and practically beautiful cadillac srx. get the best offers of the season now. lease this 2014 srx for around $369 a month with premium care maintenance included. ♪

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the only eggs that make better taste and better nutrition... easy. eggland's best eggs. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs. it's eb. finally tonight, a republican nightmare that just might be coming true. since the president's first inauguration on the cold january day in 2009, the gop has done everything to send the president back to chicago. and none of it worked. but at least for them, president obama will be gone after his second term, right? well, maybe not so fast, republicans. so what happens when the second term is over? turns out it's all in the hands of his youngest daughter sasha. >> sasha will still be in high

school. >> she'll be a sophomore in high school. >> so you may want to stay in washington because of sasha. i don't want to pin you down, but i am. >> let's put it this way. sasha will have a big vote. >> a big vote. and another vote republicans won't be able to repeal. wouldn't that be fun? thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. full speed ahead for health care. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. there ought to be a page for complainers, chronic sour